Impact of Industrialization on Two Rural Communities in Western Ireland
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This dissertation has been microfihned exactly as received 68—14,805 LUCEY, Denis Ijgnatius, 1942- IMPACT OF INDUSTRIALIZATION ON TWO RURAL COMMUNITIES IN WESTERN IRELAND. Iowa State University, Ph.D., 1968 Economics, general University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan IMPACT OF INDUSTRIALIZATION ON TWO RURAL COMMUNITIES IN WESTERN IRELAND by Denis Ignatius Lucey A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Major Subject: Economics Approved : Signature was redacted for privacy. In Charge of Major Work Signature was redacted for privacy. Head of Major Department Signature was redacted for privacy. Dean of Graduate Iowa State University Of Science and Technology Ames, Iowa 1968 PLEASE NOTE: Not original copy. Several pages are blurred and indistinct. Filmed in the best possible way. UNIVERSITY MICROFILMS ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. INDUSTRIALIZATION AS A TOOL IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 7 III. IRELAND 52 IV. THE STUDY LOCATION 72 V. THE PLANT EMPLOYEES 88 VI. HYPOTHETICAL INDUSTRIALIZATION EFFECTS 123 VII. METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS l60 VIII. EMPLOYMENT EFFECTS 183 IX. POPULATION EFFECTS 212 X. INCOME EFFECTS 223 XI. EXPENDITURE EFFECTS 262 XII. FARM BUSINESS EFFECTS 281 XIII. SELECTIVITY FACTORS 303 XIV. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 322 XV. LITERATURE CITED 329 XVI. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 3^0 XVII. APPENDIX A 342 XVIII. APPENDIX B 343 I. INTRODUCTION The development problem of a less developed area is nor mally regarded as that of converting a "traditional" society 'A'hich is largely dependent on subsistence or near-subsistence agriculture, though possibly combined with the export of a few primary commodities, but providing a low level of income per capita, into a "modern" society in which secular growth of income per capita is incorporated in the economic and scci system through the development' of automatic icechanisms foster ing capital accumulation, technological advance and sustained increases in the skill of the labor force. Sven a cursory examination of the economies of what are conventionally referred to as the "developed" countries sug gests that one of the more notlceeble features of d eve lop:? en t is the abundsnce of manufacturing industry;- froic which the wealth of the developed countries would appear to spri"n~. A- a result of this, in the view of those having concern for the sdyancement of the less developed areas-, to quote Mount job ( S9, p. 66), "it is not surprising that the introduction of manufacturing industry should be regarded uncritically as a panacea". Less developed countries thus tend to favor policies of "Industrialization" in order to further such objectives as tl- provision of employment for growing populations (or even already under-employed populations), the raising of incosv-; pc capita and thus presumably of standards of living, the improve ment of a balance of payments situation or even the desire for national prestige which an industrial•economy might provide in relation to other producers of primary products. However', in the developed countries there is also considerable interest in the promotion of industrial development in rural areas. Kost of these areas within the developed countries have in the relatively recent past been characterized by declining employment opportunities frequently accompanied by net emigra tion of population. In comparison with other areas within the same country, these areas would be ones having relatively low levels of income per capita. Furthermore, these areas have scarcely any manufacturing activity.. Recourse has frequently been had to the fostering of manufacturing activity in such areas as a means of maintaining or even expanding the economic base of those areas. Hence, the implementation of policies to promote manu facturing activities has been of interest, not alone to the governments of the less developed nations, but also to the governments of the more developed nations because of the exist ence of relatively less developed areas within their own countries. The establishment of a new manufacturing plant in a com munity may be expected to have both economic and social effects on that community. One may expect that the incidence and magnitude of these effects will vary with the type and size of the new manufacturing plant and also with certain character istics of the community involved. One of the more apparent effects to be expected would be an increase in the avail ability of employment opportunities. Frequently, the establishment of such manufacturing plants in economically depressed areas is encouraged in the hope that they will play an important part in the process of providing off-farm employment opportunities locally for those who might otherwise be obliged to leave those areas in search of employ ment. This is considered as a policy alternative to the move ment of labor from those areas to the relatively more indus trialized areas within the country. A number of studies have been conducted in the United States of America with the object of elucidating the economic and social effects on rural communities following the intro duction of new industrial plants to those communities.' Related research, though mainly of a sociological nature, has been con ducted in some European countries. The object of the present study is twofold: (1) to examine the impact which the recent establishment of manufac turing plants has had on two predominantly rural communities in Western Ireland; (2) to compare the impact observed in Ireland with that observed in the United States, in order to obtain information on the differential impact of industrial development on communities which have different levels, of income per capita. These manufacturing plants, one located . at Tubbercuïry, County Sligo and the other at Scarriff, County Clare, are situated in the relatively less developed part of Ireland. Incomes per capita in these areas would be substan tially lower than in the more developed countries like the United States. However, these areas are at a much more advanced stage of development than most areas of Africa, Asia: and Latin America. More specifically, the first broad objective listed may be subdivided as follows. a. to determine, the relative amount of transfer of agricultural manpower to industry. b. to determine the direct effects of industrial ization on employment, population, income and hou s ehold exp endi tur e. c. to determine the direct effects of industrial ization on agricultural resource efficiency, farm organization, farm investment and the level and mix of farm output. d. to estimate the spatial incidence of the direct effects of industrialization. e. to determine the nature of any selectivity forces operating to affect the incidence and magnitude of the direct effects. Knowledge of the specific effects of industrial develop ment in Irish rural communities should be of interest to resi dents of those communities. In addition it should be of interest to residents or groups in other areas in Ireland who are interested in communtiy development. Furthermore, this knowledge should be of interest to local governmental and cen tral governmental agencies, providing them with some measure of 5 the effectiveness of programs and policies designed to fo-ter industrial development in such areas. Hb^ever, a wider base of interest is also claimed for this study. This arises from the comparative analysis of the effects of industrial development on rural comunities at dif ferent levels of income per.capita. Many resources, both in terms of professional manpower and other physical and monetary resources, are currently being devoted by the governments of the developed countries and by international organizations to the problem of aiding the developmental processes of the yery underdeveloped countries. Lacking specific information on the degree to which therintroduction of various policies, programs or institutions will affect these countries, the organizations responsible have frequently had to rely almost exclusively on their knowledge of the impact which such policies et cetera have had in countries like the United States or the more de veloped Western Europea.n nations as a guide to formulating developmental programs for these underdeveloped countries. In a recent evaluation of the successes and failures of developmental policies aimed at the modernisation of subsist ence agriculture, Wharton has stated (126, p. 266): "The real dot-aifall in agricultural development programs to date has been the failure to recognize - tl'iat agricultural development must be analyzed in its complex totality, focusing on the key interact ing facets, each of which must be studied in a particular context and in a continuing ongoing fashion.,.. Moreover, the critical problems In any one country or region need not be the same as in another. Even where a program attacks successfully a coabination of critical factors, we raust recog nize tliat there is very little transferability to another problem situation." Ireland, especially Western Ireland, lies at an inter mediate level of development. 7!f it can be demonstrated that, for any specific policy or program, the effect of its intro duction in advanced countries like the United^tates and in intermediate countries like Ireland has been roughly similar, then a much stronger case can be made for an a priori expec tation that such a policy would have a success potential in the less developed countries greater